The Meaning of Meaning.

The Yankees had three runs on five hits as Jered Weaver made the entire team look silly (the only exception being Derek Jeter).

But you know who's really to blame whenever the Yankees lose:

"Thirteen was an unlucky number in the Yankee universe yesterday afternoon - unless you had Alex Rodriguez in a 'meaningless home run' pool."

Funny, because I had Craig Wilson and Jason Giambi in the meaningless home run pool.

Did I win the pool?


Gee, if the Angels had scored two less runs, ARod's homerun would have been a cherished "close and late" homerun.

Gee, I thought ARod's HR was the spark that led to an inferno that led to a thrilling Yankee comeback. Five O' Clock Thunder and all that jazz.


Filip (with an "F") Bondy describes the homerun as "another meaningless, late-inning homer, this one moving him to No. 30 on the career list at 454":

"You don't want to pick on A-Rod. You want to write about almost anybody or anything else, after the Yankees lose again, 5-3, to the Angels."

You want to write about somebody else?

Let me offer some suggestions:

1) Jorge Posada is now 0 for his last 26 and, instead of hitting a meaningless homerun to spark a ninth-inning rally, he hit a meaningful fly out to left field to end the game.

2) Jason Giambi, the designated hitter, struck out twice and only had one hit. It was a homerun in the ninth inning (back-to-back and belly-to-belly), but it was just as "meaningless" as ARod's.

3) Johnny Damon, 0-for-3 with 3 strikeouts.

4) Bob Abreu, 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts and 4 LOB.

5) Robinson Cano, Don't You Know, 0-for-3 with a rally-killing double play and no homeruns, meaningless or otherwise.


Ken Davidoff doesn't exactly call ARod's HR "meaningless," just that it was hit at a time "when only a statistically unlikely rally could have helped his club."

With Jered Weaver on the mound, backed up by the Angels bullpen, I think any rally was statistically unlikely.

Craig Wilson hit a solo shot in the fifth. Didn't seem to stoke a rally.


Alex Rodriguez is not going to hit a HR every time he bats. A review of baseball history suggests that this is statistically unlikely. It would be nice, but it's just not going to happen.

Let's say we know beforehand that ARod is going to have a so-so day: 1-for-4, 2 ks, 1 ground out, and 1 HR. I'll agree that the HR doesn't erase the previous lousy at-bats. Also, the ground out is worse than a typical ground out, since it was a GIDP.

In this mind experiment, let's go ahead and switch ARod's ninth-inning HR with an earlier out. What is the result? The Yankees still lose and ARod is still criticized for hitting unimportant HRs.

So what if he hits a 2-run HR in the first inning? Where was he when it mattered in the ninth inning?

Striking out to end the game? Typical ARod the Choker!


"And after the 5-3 loss, for those of us granted access to the Yankees' clubhouse, it was the one in which the reigning American League Most Valuable Player vowed that he was about to bust loose."

You know, you look up in early August and the man still has 25 hrs, 83 rbis, and 82 runs scored.

The fielding has been shockingly bad, he has hit into too many double plays, and he has struck out way too many times. When a player strikes out once every four times, the situational hitting will suffer, and it has. All around, a subpar season for a great player.

But 25 hrs, 83 rbis, and 82 runs scored is still nothing to sneeze at. Sorry if ARod ruined everybody's headline when he hit that ninth-inning homerun. Maybe it would have had more "meaning" if Posada could get a hit this month.


Also, after tanking in Baltimore, ARod already has busted loose.

In his last six games, ARod is 10-for-22 (.455 ba) with 4 walks (.538 on-base percentage), 2 doubles, 3 homeruns (.955 slugging percentage), 5 runs scored, and 5 runs batted in.

Keep it up, ARod.